John Kerry on Activism and Earth Day

“Everybody has an interest in doing better on the border, doing better on immigration, having a solution. Everybody needs to make sure our education system is working, health care is working. Instead of just grafting off these polarized positions we have to go out and fight for a genuine agenda…. And I’ll tell you, when I first came back from Vietnam, I didn’t protest the war immediately, I got involved in Earth Day. 20 million Americans got out of their homes and then targeted the 12 worst folks in Congress, we defeated seven of the 12, and with that Richard Nixon gave us the EPA. We had a Clean Air Act, a Safe Drinking Water Act, Coastal Zone Management. Run the list. It happened because we made those needs the lead issues, and that’s exactly my judgment of the secret to gaining back our country.”